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Project Complete
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Back in the DayFriday February 27, 2015
Completion of the conservation work at Discovery Hut in January marked the conclusion of a decade-long effort to protect three of the first human-built structures in Antarctica.

American Ingenuity
Features /
Back in the DayFriday February 27, 2015
Two Americans inspired by tales of heroism in the age of exploration in Antarctica had a hand in ensuring that part of the continent's early history will stand the test of time well into this century.

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A Holiday to Remember
My father, Wesley B. Harding, came to Antarctica a little more than 50 years ago to install an early experiment to study cosmic rays from the sun. Strange to think that today I can send emails from a field camp and that balloons with sophisticated solid-state cosmic ray sensors are being launched to altitudes of more than 100,000 feet.

Frontier Living
This isn't the sort of summer camp where you send the kids. Rather, Summer Camp became known as the collection of Jamesways and other buildings at the South Pole Station that housed additional personnel when population exceeded permanent housing. Now Summer Camp is going away.

Heroism Not Forgotten
Four former U.S. Navy service members recently received recognition in the role they played nearly 35 years ago in the recovery of more than 250 bodies from a plane crash into the side of a volcano in Antarctica.

For Future Generations
More than 110 years since it was built on the spit of land that would become known as Hut Point, Robert Falcon Scott's first expedition base is getting an extreme makeover Antarctic-style. But you'd never be able to tell - and that's how the conservators like it.

Memory of McMurdo
A photo of McMurdo Station, circa December 1955, before there were any buildings, recently surfaced. The photo was taken by Freddie Spainhouer, a Navy photographer who was among the first to winter over at McMurdo in 1956. He is now 90 and living in Dallas, Texas.

Historic Moment
A pair of campsites located high on the flanks of an active volcano in Antarctica - once used by British explorers a little more than a century ago - officially became part of history. The 50 nations of the Antarctic Treaty System formally adopted them onto the Historic Sites and Monuments list last year.

Time Flies
Planes and ships, tractors and skis, ponies and sled dogs, and even a hot air balloon: All manner of transportation has been tried and used in the Antarctic. Once upon a time (not so long ago), even hovercraft glided across the ice of Antarctica.

Rightful Place
A century after the end of the Terra Nova Expedition, a historic artifact from that era will be returned to its rightful place in Antarctica. A set of wooden skis belonging to Edward Atkinson has been donated to New Zealand's Antarctic Heritage Trust. And Shackleton's whisky is back on the Ice.

Repeating History
It only took Clive Oppenheimer about 15 minutes to find a piece of history on the flanks of Antarctica's southernmost active volcano. The volcanologist used historical photos and journals to find two century-old field camps occupied by a team of British explorers.

High Society
The Antarctican Society started in Washington, D.C., in 1960. In just a few years, it grew from a local club to an organization with members from around the world. Today, the Society continues to preserve the past but looks to change with the times.

First Contact
An international team of ham radio operators will take part in an expedition to a remote island that was once a regular stop for U.S. Navy ships that supported the U.S. Antarctic Program.

Rest of the Story
The recent discovery off the coast of Greenland of the remains of the SS Terra Nova, the ship that carried Briton Robert F. Scott and his team to Antarctica in 1910, generated headlines around the world.